Celebrate Speech & Hearing Awareness Month!
Here are some great ideads to get you started.

 

Here are some of the events and activities that were undertaken by your colleagues across the country to celebrate May Month in the past.

Check out what's on for 2009

Let us know What's Happening in Your Community - Add your event to the list we're compiling to assist in responding to queries from the media and general public.

 

Print our flyer full of great ideas on how to celebrate May Month. Download and print using Adobe Acrobat. en francais

• Hold a career presentation at a local high school, college or university to
  introduce our professions to students. Set up a CASLPA display or information booth in universities with S-LP and
  Audiology programs....
  
  
• Hold an essay contest, spelling bee or public speaking competition, with a communication theme at local schools....
  
  
• Label all out-going mail with a sticker or stamp announcing May is Speech and
  Hearing Awareness Month....
  
  
• Set up a display booth at a local mall,
  library or school offering information to community members about the importance of communication in their lives....
  
  
• Remind everyone how we take the precious gift of communication for granted. Organize a silence day, where nobody is allowed to speak.....
  
  
• Sell hearing protection at a rock concert.....
  
  
• Inform local radio and television stations about your participation in Speech and
  Hearing Awareness Month and offer to be interviewed on air....
  
  
• Display May Month posters on bulletin boards throughout your community -
  at work, local schools, shopping centres, community centres or churches....
  
  
• Provide May Month placemats/ tray liners to local restaurants, fast food chains, hospitals, clinics or school cafeterias....
  
  
• Ask your local library or bookstore to set up a display for May Month featuring books with speech, hearing and communication themes....
  
  
• Distribute buttons, magnets or other promo items to your employees, clients etc....
  
  
• Offer an information session to members of the community who wish to find out more about speech, language and hearing....
  
  
• Provide May Month children’s colouring/activity sheets to doctors’ offices, day care centres, schools, etc....
  
  
• Take the opportunity to educate children and parents by organizing a teddy bear health fair where children can bring their stuffed animals to have hearing screenings and speech assessments....
  
  
• Ask your Mayor or local MP and MPP to publicly proclaim Speech-language and Hearing Month at a Council or Cabinet meeting....
  
  
• Supply your local pharmacies/grocery stores with speech-language & hearing literature and ask them to include it in the bag with each customer’s purchase...
  
  
• Organize a television or radio interview with an adult in your community living with a communication disorder....
  
  
• Host an interactive public forum to discuss speech and hearing communication and awareness....
  
  
• Hold a communication colouring or poster contest in partnership with a local merchant who will display the entries....
  
  
• Send speech and hearing and May Month articles, public service ads and artwork to local media - radio, TV or newspapers-you could even write a song or poem....
  
  
• Talk to your local newspaper about publishing a Speech and Hearing Awareness fact of the week for each week in May....
  
  
• Ask local hotels, malls or other businesses to announce Speech & Hearing Month on their outdoor billboards.....
  
  
• Hold an open house or health fair where co-workers, clients, community mem-
  bers and the general public are invited to visit your facilities....
  
  
• Offer hearing screenings and demonstrate equipment such as FM amplification systems, efi, electronarynx, etc....
  
  
• Hold any type of special event... a banquet to recognize sponsors, volunteers or an outstanding citizen in your community who has a communication disorder. Organize a fundraiser - golf tournament, fashion show, etc. to benefit a particular speech, language or hearing disorder...
  
  
• Give a baby basket to the mother of the first baby born in May at your local hospital....
  
  
• Find a well-known public official or local celebrity in your community who has a communication disorder and ask them to get involved in one of your events and speak out publicly in support of the issues....
  
  
• Offer information packages with stickers and balloons to parents of all babies
  born in May - put them in your hospital waiting rooms, doctors’ offices, etc....
  
  
• Develop a Teacher’s Kit containing activity sheets and fact sheets concerning childhood communication problems and deliver it to local schools. You may also want to include a letter which can be sent home to parents or ask if you can make a presentation to the staff, teacher’s association or PTA....
  
  
• Offer a free introductory sign language lesson at the local library or community centre...
  
  
• Hold a Speech and Hearing Trivia contest (with prizes) in your local newspaper, on the radio or at an information booth....
  
  
• Set up a telephone hotline centre or call-in radio show with a panel of speech and hearing specialists to let the public “talk to the experts.”

Be creative... organize any special event which will promote awareness about speech, language and hearing in your community - then be sure to tell us about it so you can make this list next year.

Good Luck & Have Fun!